Don't feel secure in sending our team to India, next step depends on ICC's response: BCB president
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam on Monday said that "we do not feel secure" in sending the national team to India for the T20 World Cup considering the current circumstances.
Aminul spoke to reporters a day after BCB formally requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift their T20 World Cup games out of India, a strong move triggered by pacer Mustafizur Rahman's release from the IPL on BCCI instruction.
"You know that we, along with all the directors of the cricket board, held two meetings before taking this decision and at this moment we do not feel secure sending our team to India to play the World Cup," Aminul said.
"So we wrote a letter to the ICC, and in the letter we clearly stated what we wanted to say. Because to us, security appeared to be a major concern and that is what we are following.
"We have sent an email to the ICC and we are expecting them to tell us to have a meeting with them soon where we will express our concern," he said.
Aminul said BCB's next step will depend on ICC's response.
"But what our next step will be depend on the reply to the email we have sent. We are not communicating with BCCI because this is an ICC event. We are communicating with the ICC," he said.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, while announcing the diktat to release Rahman, had merely stated that it was being done because of "developments all around", without explaining the specifics.
Bangladesh was scheduled to play three T20 World Cup matches in Kolkata and one in Mumbai.
Drawn in Group C, the team was due to face the West Indies in their opening match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 7 and subsequently compete against defending champions England, Italy and Nepal.
The Indo-Bangladesh relationship has hit a rocky patch after the ouster of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August last year following anti-government protests.
She was sentenced to death in absentia by a tribunal for her alleged role in a deadly crackdown during the agitation in which several students were killed.
Hindus have been targetted for violent attacks since Hasina's ouster.
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Constitution amendment bill defeat was BJP’s first embarrassment in Parliament: Margaret Alva
Bengaluru (PTI): Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva on Monday said that the constitution amendment bill's defeat in the Lok Sabha on April 17 was the first embarrassment faced by the BJP-led government in Parliament.
She also alleged that the BJP has no real concern regarding women’s reservation.
The opposition INDIA bloc defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill that sought to facilitate the implementation of women's reservation by expanding the strength of the Lok Sabha, apart from making changes to delimitation.
"This is the first embarrassment and defeat faced by the NDA government in the Lok Sabha," the former Governor of Gujarat and Rajasthan said in a press conference here.
According to her, the women’s reservation has been under discussion since the time of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, a 14-member committee was formed, and I was appointed as its chairperson. We prepared a report after studying what needed to be done to enhance the dignity of women across 12 sectors. This was submitted to the government in 1989,” Alva, 84-year-old veteran Congress leader, said.
She said political empowerment for women was emphasised in that report, without which, empowerment in any other sphere is not possible.
“Many people in Parliament used to question me — should we vacate seats for women and stay at home cooking? Why insist on this? Has anyone written these seats in your name? This debate has been ongoing since 1975,” Alva explained.
The Congress leader said Rajiv Gandhi had introduced 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies.
“At that time, all opposition parties united and defeated the Bill,” she pointed out.
Again, during the tenure of former Prime Minister late P V Narasimha Rao, the 33 per cent reservation Bill in local bodies was passed.
“It was the Congress party that first introduced women’s reservation. Now they are falsely accusing us of being anti-women,” Alva charged.
In 2023, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed with much fanfare, but it was not immediately implemented.
According to her, a condition was imposed for its implementation that it would be enforced based on census data.
"Once it is in the statute book, what is preventing its implementation? Two years for the census and another two years for delimitation — this means it cannot be implemented by 2029. It was not given in 2024, and there is no possibility even in 2029," Alva charged the BJP-led government at the Centre.
The Congress leader said the BJP is saying that the Bill can be implemented based on the 2011 Census, but when the same suggestion was made in 2023, the BJP rejected it.
On increasing the Lok Sabha seats by 50 per cent, she sought to know the basis for it.
“Where did this (idea) come from? Whose advice was taken? Was it decided by the RSS? Or ordered by a court?” Alva asked.
The former union minister said the Constitution amendment bill, which was defeated on April 17 appears to favour certain North Indian states.
“We pay taxes, but they receive greater benefits and allocations. If seats are increased by 50 per cent based on their calculations, we would get only 14 additional seats, while they would get 40. How is this fair?” she questioned.
While 298 members voted in support of the bill in Lok Sabha, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the bill required 352 votes for a two-third majority.
According to the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to "operationalise" the women's reservation act before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and Union territory Assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
